Parish Life

Parish Life

Our parish life takes many forms—from solemn Evensong with music and form dating back many centuries, to very lively blessings of animals on the feast of St. Francis, to Korean drumming festivals, to all-parish summer picnics. Explore below and—even better—join us in these celebrations.

In addition to the regular round of feasts and fasts of the church calendar, St. James enjoys a rich array of observances unique to our community. All are welcome!

St. James Parish Picnic takes place after the 10:30 service on the grounds of St. James School, with good food cooked to perfection on an outdoor grill, music, children's games, and lots of laughter and conversation, as the people of our diverse congregation just enjoy each other's company. All are welcome!

Korean Drumming can be seen and heard punctuating many a gathering from party to procession, most notably, but not only, our outdoor Palm Sunday Procession from schoolyard to church.

Blessing of the Animals: We celebrate St. Francis Day on the first Sunday of the October. Our furry and feathered friends (and scaly ones too!) are welcome at both the special 10:30 sung Morning Prayer Service and also at the 8:00 a.m. eucharist. After the services, while humans enjoy coffee hour, our pets get to enjoy specie appropriate treats. A portion of the offering at both services is divided equally between Best Friends and The Wildlife Conservancy.

African Fellowship Sunday is celebrated at the 10:30 service on the second Sunday of October, with African music and hymns and a joyful dancing offertory procession, enhancing our worship from the (English language) Nigerian prayer book, augmented with the Krio of Sierra Leone. An African feast and fellowship follow in St. James Hall in the school building.

Although also mentioned on the Worship page, our Second Sunday 10:30 Eucharist gives a sense of the breadth and diversity of our community as the Korean speaking community, the Korean choir, the school choir (November through June) with their families join together with our English speaking worshippers for this joyful service.

Second Sundays from October through May also offer our beautiful service of Solemn Evensong at 4:30 with full choir followed by a reception and our Organ Laureates Series. Our December Evensong takes the form of Advent Lessons and Carols, which many people have come to think of as indispensable to their Advent/Christmas observance. For more information about our musical offerings, please visit the Great Music page.